1995 Borodianka mid-air collision

On 10 February 1995 at 16:09 CET, the first Antonov An-70 prototype aircraft collided with an Antonov An-72 that was assisting with the An-70 test program over Borodianka Raion in Ukraine. All 7 crew members on board the An-70 were killed; the An-72 was able to make a safe emergency landing at Gostomel Airport in Kiev with no fatalities.

Causes

A Ukrainian-led commission reported that the cause was human error and blamed the flight maneuvers by the crew as the major contributing factor to the crash. Leonid Berestov is quoted as saying "The careless actions of both crews in their formation flying led to a collision and crash."

Several faults were observed in the three test flights that took place before the accident flight, including flight control problems during the second flight and again during the third flight, on the day preceding the crash.

References

• (Russian) Светлая память погибшим // Авиация и Время. - К. : 1995. - №1. - Стр.25. (Obituary in Aviatsiya i Vremia journal, including photogallery of the crew).